Do you believe in miracles?

An admission: I am a fully paid up member of the 'miracle cream' lovers club. I have been using moisturiser religiously, morning and night, since my early twenties. And now, on the wrong side of 40 (or right side, depending on your perspective), I am frequently asked if I have a picture in the attic. But that doesn't mean I don't approach every new announcement with scepticism.

Pretenders to the 'facelift in a jar' throne are plentiful. Most are backed up by decent scientific research. Many even work. Some convincingly. Who didn't queue up for No7's Protect and Perfect? Olay's Regenerist range is no slouch either. My current love is Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus serum, which claims to have almost 70% of the effect of fractal laser surgery. And when I gave my mum Estee Lauder's, admittedly pricey, Re-Nutriv, to try, someone she hadn't seen for a month asked if she'd had work. (No, she hadn't!)

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On Friday, the latest in a long line of 'Celebrities' Secret Anti-agers' was revealed as Shinso Essence. Journalist Alice Hart-Davis says she watched as one side of its originator, Nao Tsuruta's, face 'perceptibly lifted' after application. Sounds impressive (not to say, creepy), and Hart-Davis, an experienced beauty journalist, is nobody's fool.

But if you don't have a spare £200 sloshing around? Vichy LiftActive Derm Source, out April, is the latest to be hailed as the answer. Owners L'Oreal claim this collagen stimulating cream is the first to get to the root of wrinkles, able to coax our skin into boosting its own collagen. And all for £27.

Does it really work? Scientists are notoriously sceptical about the use of collagen in anti-wrinkle creams, arguing its molecules are too large to penetrate the skin. But the hundreds of women who tested Vichy's cream daily found their wrinkles became 20% shorter and shallower after two months.

I can't help wondering if the answer doesn't lie in the attic or even in a miracle potion, but in those magic words, 'used daily'. After all, as research by Olay found, the drier your skin between 20 and 40, the quicker wrinkles take hold. Now THAT doesn't sound like rocket science to me.

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